The Dare
by anonymous442
Summary: COMPLETE: Lilly dares Michael to tell Mia he loves her. Pretty easy you might say. What he doesn't know is that Lilly has also dared Mia to avoid him. A week of hilarity ensues. The penalty for not doing the dare? Which came first, the chicken or the egg
1. Michael's Dare

A/N: I'm back again. Don't you all hate me? Haha. Anyway, if you're on the Rooney boards: Isn't that whole screen name band member thing hilarious? Hahaha!  Thank you for all the reviews I got for the other story, and if anyone was wondering, I had a very nice birthday. I made £100 in birthday money so I'm going for a huge shopping trip tomorrow. Woo! Anyway, here it is: The Dare. Please Read and Review, Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own it, I never will so stop reminding me!

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Lilly Moscovitz was mad. No, she was beyond mad. She was fuming. How could two people be so incredibly thick? Honestly! She had tried almost everything humanely possible to get her best friend and her own brother together, but none of it had worked. Yet, anyway. For there was one thing she had not tried yet.

"Michael?" Lilly asked sweetly, poking her head 'round his bedroom door.

"No." He said sharply, without even looking up from the book his eyes were currently fixed on.

"But you don't even know what I was going to say!" She moaned, sounding more like a five year old than the fourteen year old she was meant to be.

"Yeah and I don't want to find out either. Get out." He snapped. It was pretty obvious that something – or someone – had put him in one hell of a bad mood. Which might be good for Lilly.

"Oh but I think you'll like this one …" she trailed off, smirking. He looked up, his intrest peaking.

"Go on …"

"Oh no. You told me to get out so I will. Later Michael!" She yelled at him whilst strolling out of his bedroom.

"Lilly – Lilly get back here!" He shouted after her, not particularly keen to drag himself off his bed and run after her.

Damn Lilly. She knew just how to get his attention all right. Bloody know-it-all sisters. Who'd have 'em? Not him, that's for sure.

He tried reading his book for a bit, but after reading the line "Welcome to the exciting world of Chemistry!" Sixty odd times, he knew revision was hopeless. So he allowed his mind to wander.

Unfortunately – or fortunately, depending on your point of view – it landed on the future leader of Genovia, Princess Amelia Renaldo herself. Or Mia, as she was known to her friends.

Now don't get me wrong – Michael liked the girl. The problem was … he liked her not only as a friend, but also as a potential life mate. The situation could be better. She was a princess, had a whacked out grandmother and a crazy cousin/designer who liked using her as a Barbie doll. Add that to the fact that the aforementioned girl was also the best friend of one Lillian Moscovitz and you have a small problem. 

Ok it was more of a huge problem, but whatever.

This got his mind onto his dear little sister. What exactly did she think she could achieve by barging into his room and pretending to be all sweetness and light, anyway?

'Well, if she wanted my attention, she got it.' He thought dejectedly, climbing off his bed and jogging out of the room. As he neared Lilly's room, however, he felt a feeling of dread wash over him. This dread soon changed into pure horror as the sight in front of him.

Lilly Jane Moscovitz was dancing to a Britney Spears song.

"Eww." He voiced his disgust and Lilly stopped singing into her hairbrush.

"Ahh I was wondering how long it would take before you came to find me." She smirked again, apparently unfazed about being seen dancing to Britney Spears.

"Have you got brain damage? Britney-fucking-spears? What the hell?!" He spluttered.

"Oh don't get so high and mighty Mr I-listen-to-bob-the-builder." She shot back.

"Touché. Now, what's this thing you think I'll like?" He asked her.

"I thought you 'didn't want to find out'?!" She sneered.

"That was ten minutes ago."

"And?"

"It's in the past. Now tell me."

"Fine. How would you feel about a little dare …?"

"Lils, this is me we're talking about. I never turn down a dare. Tell me more …"

"Well, I know you've got a thing for Mia, and don't look at me like that. You've only got to listen to your incessant warbling and witness your moping everytime she leaves to figure that out." She said in response to Michael's shocked expression. Getting past the little bit of information he had just learned, he regained his composure and said

"Right. And?"

"Well, my dear stupid oaf of a brother, we're going to get you to tell Mia this." She said simply.

"No. Oh no. No way. There's a reason why I haven't told her already, you know."

"Ahh yes. Your idiotic fear of rejection. You do realize how much like Mia you are when it comes to that." She stated.

"Uh huh. I'm still not doing it." He muttered, determined.

"Michael James Moscovitz, I dare you to tell Mia you love her."

"Damn it, Lilly."

"If you don't tell her by this time next week, you have to go to school dressed in this humorous chicken outfit."

"What do I get if I pull it off?"

"Oh you'll get something. But you'll find that out if you pull it off, won't you."

"_When_ I pull it off."

"Whatever. Deal?"

"Deal."

They shook hands and Michael left her room. This is where it all began.

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	2. Mia's Dare

A/N: Hey all. Um, review and I'll give you a … cookie? Yeah, a cookie. I'm going to my very first Rooney show on May 7th so … WOOOO! Ok, I'll contain my excitement long enough to say this: Read and Review. If you do, I'll give you  blow by blow account of the Rooney show. Ok? Good. If you've never head of Rooney … Where have you been these last few years? Hiding under a rock? Jeez! Ok, off topic. Read and Review Please. Enjoy!

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The next morning, Mia came over before her Princess Lessons, telling Lars she had forgotten something important when she last slept over. Being a bodyguard, he had, of course, seen right through this, but went along with it for the time being. Arriving at the Moscovitz' apartment, Mia opened the limo door, hopped out and told Lars to stay there.

Lilly flung open the door and stepped back to let her best friend in.

"Hey Mia, what brings you this way at," she checked her watch "eight-thirty in the morning?"

"I don't know. You're the one who called me last night and said it was urgent." Mia replied, looking around.

"Oh yes." She stated simply.

"Well?" Mia asked again, remembering that Lars was waiting downstairs with the engine running.

"Hey Mia … can I ask you a question?"

"Well you didn't really leave me any choice there, but sure. Go ahead."

"You've been spending way too much time around my brother." Lilly muttered

"Uh, that isn't really a question, Lils." Mia giggled, watching as Lilly turned an interesting shade of red.

"I know it isn't!" She snapped "I was getting to that."

"Right. Well, whenever you're ready."

"Again with the brother thing!" She groaned, pointing a finger accusingly in Mia's face.

"Whatever. Just tell me already!" Mia moaned, stamping her foot onto the parquet floor.

"God, I'm getting there. Ok, how would you feel about a little dare?" Lilly asked, quite nicely for her.

"Um, Lilly I don't do dares." Mia told her firmly.

"Yet."

"No, ever." She shot back.

"Not if it includes Michael?" Lilly knew she had won when she saw Mia's eyes soften at his name.

"Ok, tell me more." She finally said, walking over to a chair and plopping herself down, Lars forgotten for the moment.

"Not until you agree." She countered, knowing Mia would never agree if she knew the whole deal.

"Ok fine, it's a deal. Now tell me more."

"Well, my dear best friend, you have to avoid Michael for a week." Lilly told her smugly.

"_What? _Oh no, no, no, no. No I'm not doing that- I _can't_ do that!" She panicked, instantly regretting that hasty deal.

"And why not?" Lilly asked, raising one eyebrow.

"Uh … because he …. Tutors me in Algebra! Yeah, that's why. If I avoid him, he'll think I don't want his help anymore, when I really do. It's finals next week, Lilly!" She practically screamed at her best friend.

"I'll tutor you. I'm just as good as him. Or was there some other reason you want to spend time with the doofus?" She shot back, knowing perfectly well why Mia spent so much time with her brother. It's not that hard understanding how a person's mind works when you've known them since they were 6.

"Uh … ok, fine. How long did you say I had to do this for?" She gulped and looked up.

"One week. 7 days, 154 hours, 10080 minutes –" She rambled on, showing her intelligence off to the highest extent. Mia didn't know there were 154 hours in a week, let alone 10080 minutes! Jeez, way to make a girl feel stupid.

Ok, OK I got it, Lilly." She yelled, trying to stop Lilly's incessant rambling.

"Oh, and there's one other thing."

"Which is?" Mia asked, a feeling of dread, similar to the one Michael had gotten before, attacking her guts with what felt like long, pointy knives.

"If you don't avoid him for a week, you have to wear this lovely outfit." She replied, smirking and pointing to a large egg costume hanging on the back of her bedroom door.

"Oh, now the Michael thing, I was willing to do. But that? Nuh uh."

"Oh yes you will."

"Lilly, do I have to remind you of the small fact that I am a Princess and cannot be seen dead in an overly large EGG COSTUME?!" She screamed at her, stretching up to her full height and trying to seem tough.

"You can't, but you will. We have a deal, end of." The supposed best friend said simply, before turning on her heel and walking off into her bedroom, shutting the door with a little slam

"Touchy." Mia muttered to herself, unaware of the young man standing behind her – without a shirt on.

"Yeah … you could say that. At least she didn't do the whole head-grip thing with you." A voice said from somewhere close to her ear. Whirling around, she came face to face with a certain Michael Moscovitz. The very same person she was meant to be avoiding.

"Uh … Um …" She stuttered, before remembering the dare. 'Shit!' She thought, eyeing Michael's bare chest and blushing.

"Cat got your tongue there, Thermopolis?" He asked, smiling that brilliant smile of hers. Too bad she couldn't say anything back. Well, she could, but she didn't think walking about dressed as a giant egg would do much good for her public persona. With that thought in mind, she waved at him numbly, and turned around. 

Out of sight, out of mind … right? Wrong.

"Ok, what have I done now? Oh don't tell me. Lilly." He said, moving up behind her once again. "What's she said now?"

"Gotta go. Bye!" She mumbled quickly, and shot for the door. If he wasn't there, she couldn't talk to him. Right? Right. Dashing though the front door, she ran down the stairs and dived into the waiting limo, shushing Lars, who was staring at Mia's flushed face, and saying

"Where have you been Princess? You look a little unwell. Shall we call your grandmother and cancel?"

"No, no, just drive please." She managed to get out. Before closing her eyes and leaning back into the cool leather upholstery of the car seats.

Meanwhile, up in the Moscovitz apartment, Michael was staring at the door through which his lovely little princess had ran through, with a puzzled look on his face. Shrugging his shoulders, he told himself that he would tell her later. With that thought nestled firmly in his mind, he set off to the kitchen for some Orange Juice.

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	3. The Limo Ride

A/N: Chapter Three. Ok, I can't think of anything to write for the week. I know what's going to happen in the end, but I have no idea how to get there. Writers block is a bitch sometimes. So if anyone has any ideas for how Mia can avoid Michael, please tell me? Michael trying to tell Mia is all right, I can do that, but the avoiding bit … phew.

I went to the Rooney show last night (Well, technically it was a Keane show, but whatever) and I have to say, that Taylor wasn't nasty, they all went out to eat after the show (No I was not stalking them, Joe told me) and they seemed to like being in the UK. I say seemed, because we all thought Taylor liked it the last time but no. Anyway, if you want any more details, PM me on the /R/ boards. Oh, and Lucie, I didn't manage to ask them about the Houston show because … well, they hung out at the merch table for about 5 minutes, then went to dinner. I only managed to catch Louie, Matt and Taylor and that was a quick 'Hey, nice show, can you sign this? Thanks. Now go and get drunk, you're legal here' kind of thing. But I promise I'll do it on Wednesday. Sorry! I also have to mention the fact that Joe was a very nice guy, and if you ever see him at a show, stop and say hi. Ok, sorry about that long ramble about the show … (4 days until the Barfly show.)

Anyway, on with the story. Please Read and Review. Enjoy!

The next morning in the limo, heading to Albert Einstein High School, was uncomfortable to say the least. With Mia trying everything possible to avoid Michael – including spending time with Grandmere – and Michael doing everything he could think of to try and get the girl to look at him at least once! 

All he wanted was her attention. If he had that, he'd be able to tell her he loved her in a somewhat romantic way. But that wasn't going to happen any time soon, if Lilly had anything to do with it.

Sometimes, Michael thought his sister truly hated him.

Mia could see that Michael wanted to speak to her, but held strong, the thought of walking around dressed as a giant egg uppermost in her mind. 'Damn Lilly' she thought aggressively.

"So Mia … you're not still resentful over that little thing we talked about yesterday morning?" Lilly asked her. Michael turned his head so fast, his neck cracked. Ignoring the shooting pain travelling up and down his spine, he listened in carefully whilst seeming overly interested in the leather seating of the limo.

"Uh … n-no?" She stuttered, looking down and blushing. The truth was, yes she was still fuming. But once again, her lack of assertiveness and the fact that she didn't particularly want a massive bruise where her pride was stopped her from telling the truth. What was it with Mia and lying?

"Uh huh. You know this is just for your own good, don't you?" Lilly told her, rolling her eyes in Michael's direction as she saw him sit up straighter and turn towards them slightly.

Mia snapped. "How is this for my own good?!" She screeched at Lilly. Apparently unfazed by her best friends little outburst, all Lilly said was

"You'll find out soon enough." Then settled back for the rest of the ride. Glancing at Michael, Mia saw that he was now starting at her with his mouth partly open, apparently shocked.

"Mia?" He asked nervously, sneaking a peak to Lilly who was now leaning into her seat and staring out of the window nonchalantly. Groaning inwardly, Mia sighed and turned to speak to Lars; leaving Michael even more confused, and a bit hurt too.

All in all, it wasn't a very pleasant journey to school for any of them, except Lilly who hadn't had this much fun in ... well, ever.

Finally arriving at the school, Lilly swept off to meet Boris who was waiting at the front door, as usual with his sweater tucked in. No matter how many times Mia – and Michael come to that – told him that it wasn't good, he still insisted on doing it. Shame really.

This left Michael and Mia alone – unfortunately. Michael tried speaking to her again.

"Hey Mia? Are you all right?" He asked carefully, trying to get her to look at him.

"Mmm." She mumbled and turned on her heel once more, and jogging off to where Lilly was chatting with Boris. The view of her back wasn't bad, but he'd much rather see her face and get a word or two out of her mouth to boot. 

Confused for what seemed to be the sixtieth time that day, he set off in the same direction Mia had gone, bent on finding out why she wasn't speaking to him. He had a nagging suspicion that it might be a certain Lillian Moscovitz behind it all.

Later that day, Lilly went searching for Tina. Finding her in a corner of the school library, nose buried in a borrowed romance book, she sneaked up on her and tapped her on the shoulder, which produced a small squeak of surprize from the seated girl.

"What the hell did you do that for?" Tina screamed before receiving a loud "Shhh!" from the librarian. 

"I had to find some way of getting your head out of that book." Lilly replied simply, taking a seat next to the girl.

"And you couldn't just say 'Hey Tina, How's it going'?" She snapped, lowering her voice considerably.

"No. Now will you shut up for a minute and listen to me?" Lilly snapped back, slamming her hand down onto the table, which got her another "Shhh!" from the librarian. 

"Fine. Shoot." Tina stretched out, placed her book onto the table and looked at the now pacing girl.

"Right. I dared Michael to tell Mia he loves her …" Lilly thought about whether to tell her the other part. Tina had a perfectly manicured set of nails that she didn't want in her arm right at that moment. She could dish it out, but she couldn't take it.

"Ahh, that's good but I sense a 'but' at the end of that." Tina said, raising an eyebrow.

"Um, I also dared Mia to avoid Michael." Lilly admitted, with a little nervous smile in Tina's direction.

"WHAT?" Tina yelled, jumping up from her seat. 

"Girls! This is a library! If you want to scream and shout, I suggest you do it elsewhere! Now button up before I throw you out." The librarian hissed at them, making her way through the many chairs and tables littering the room.

"Sorry." They both mumbled, looking down at their feet.

"Good! One more sound like that and you can both find somewhere else to 'hang round'. Young hooligans …" She walked off muttering to herself.

"What's up with her?" Lilly said, lowering her voice to a whisper.

"Don't change the subject! Why on earth did you do that?! Why did you tell Mia to avoid Michael? Hmm?" She hissed.

"Ok, let's get one thing straight. He is my brother, and she is my best friend. Just because they're 'in love' does not mean I can't have any fun!"

"You can have fun, but not when it jeopardizes our plan! You're just lucky that there is no possible way that Mia could – or would – stay away from Michael." Tina sighed and closed her eyes and rubbed her head.

"Um … I told Mia that I would tutor her in algebra and I sort of … blackmailed her." Lilly explained. Tina's eyes shot open and she glared at the girl sitting opposite.

"What exactly did you say to her?"

I uh … I told her that if she didn't manage to do it, she'll have to, uh … walk around dressed as a giant egg." Lilly winced, waiting for her reaction. If there was one person Lilly didn't want to piss off, it would be Tina. Those romance stories had addled her bran into thinking that real life was one big story, which wasn't a bad thing half the time. Still, those nails …

Tina was silent for the next 3 minutes, and Lilly got more and more nervous, until …

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!" She rolled over and fell onto the floor, laughing her head off. "You … you ... ha-ha, you told her she'd … ha-ha-ha!" She shrieked, clutching her stomach.

"Yeah. And I also told Michael that if he failed, he'd have to walk around dressed as a giant chicken." Lilly said, cracking a smile at the now hysterical girl.

"Ok, ok, that makes up for the whole Mia-dare. Although, this better work or I'll tell Michael you have a crush on his band mate, Felix."

"But I don't." Lilly told her.

"Ahh, he doesn't know that does he." She smiled wickedly.

"You're learning fast." She muttered, with an eyebrow raise and a little smile. Yes, it was good to have someone else on her point of view. God knows, the rest of this damn school were too idiotic to see the obvious.


	4. The Bins

A/N: Whoa, I haven't updated in ages and I am seriously _so_ sorry! I've just been really busy, what with the Rooney shows, and finishing my exams and everything (The Rooney show on Wednesday was the best thing ever. Seriously, I have never experienced anything so fantastic! If you get a chance, go to a Rooney show, yes? Good! I'm still on a high from it, too. I'm missing them, but not as much as I normally would be … – people who have spoken to me lately can see I'm slightly abnormal and unusually happy). So here's Chapter Four, and the next one will be up in a few days, it depends what happens. See, I got a death threat from this girl, etc, but you'd know all about that if you read the thread Ju and I made on the /r/ boards, and I'm kind of anxious to see what happens. It's like my own personal little soap opera. Fun fun.

Read, Review and Enjoy!

The day went on like that. Michael would see Mia in the corridor, and try to talk to her, and every time she'd brush him off like she had no time. It was confusing to say the least. Maybe she didn't like him at all, and the whole friendship thing was just a stretch of his imagination? No, that couldn't be it. She liked him a little bit, right?

Oh who was he kidding? Why would she like him? He was just her best friends' idiot brother, and as much as he hated that thought, it was an accurate one.

But he'd still keep trying. Of course he'd still keep trying, no matter how hard it got, or how much she tried to avoid him. I mean, she couldn't avoid him forever … could she? Well, she wouldn't need to. She'd just have to keep going like this for another six days, and he'd be stuck with feathers and a beak. Great. Why did he agree to this again?

Meanwhile, Mia was busy hiding out behind the bins with Tine, Wahim and Lars.

"So tell me again, Mia, why are we here?" Tine asked her, as their bodyguards 'secured the perimeter'.

"We're, um, exploring the school." She muttered while peering around a large bin bag and searching for any sign of Michael.

"So we're behind the bins? Since when did we need to explore the bins?" She scoffed as Lars came back and reported that Wahim was currently trying to stop the substitute English teacher from doing a search of the area.

"Since now?!" The princess squeaked – she'd just seen Michael come out of the front doors, look around, and then go back inside. Phew.

Noticing her friend breathe a sigh of relief after looking at the doors, she got interested.

"Yes, Mia. So who are you avoiding then?" Tina asked carefully.

"N-No one!" She stuttered back, her nostrils flaring wildly.

"Oh Mia. Honey, I know when you're lying." Tina sounded sympathetic and, putting one hand on Mia's arm, she said "It's Michael, isn't it."

"Ok hang on! First off, how d you know I'm lying … you know, if I happened to be not telling the whole truth or anything. Not saying that I'm lying right now of course, but if --" She rambled on, getting more and more side-tracked, until Tina held up a hand in front of her face.

"That's not important right now. It's Michael you're trying to avoid, right?"

"Yes." She said meekly, wringing her hands behind her back. What if Tina thought she was just being stupid? Michael would never go for a freshman, especially her! But to her surprize, Tine just giggled and started jumping around in a little circle, saying

"Awww, oh my god that's so _cute_!! Do you like him? Why are you avoiding him if you like him? God if I were you, I'd be flirting my butt off. Michael's a hottie!!"

"Um … yes I like him." Mia said quietly, blushing, "The reason I'm avoiding him is a long story and I don't really wanna get into it right now. It's too … upsetting? And do you really think Michael's cute?"

"Duh! Have you not seen him, or something? He's hot! Oh and his body …"

"So … you don't think it's stupid?" She asked hopefully.

"No! You know, I've always thought you two would make a great couple." Tina gushed, still skipping around and letting out 'Woo's of delight. "You know, I think he likes you too."

"No he doesn't. I'm just his little sisters' best friend." She sighed.

"Why would he help you with algebra? And why would be walk around with his shirt off when you're there? You know he doesn't have to do all that, yet he still does."

"Because … because I'm his little sisters' best friend, he feels he has to help me with algebra, and I'm sure he walks around with his shirt off all the time."

"He doesn't do it when me or Shameeka are there. Only _you_! Aww, this is so cute! I'm sure I read a book like this once … Anyway, you really have to stop using the 'Because I'm his little sisters best friend' excuse."

"It's not an excuse, it's the truth."

"Ahh but how do you know that? How do you know he doesn't like you? Hmm?!"

"Because. Now have we got any egg sandwiches? I'm hungry."

So Tina didn't help the state of Mia's mind at all. Now she was just more confused then ever! What if Michael did like her? I mean, all the signs are there. The shirtless thing, the knee brushing and hand touching thing when he was tutoring her in algebra … the algebra thing itself. But he wouldn't think that way about a 5"10 flat chested princess? Tina was right, she did think way too much about the negative points. Ok, time to think positive thoughts … positive points …

Oh who was she kidding? Michael's a god, why would he want her when he could have any girl in the school?


	5. G&T

AN: Hey all, I'm back. Thanks to everyone for the lovely reviews! As I said to my dear friend, Kat: Reviews make the world go round. Yup, not gravity, but reviews. Speaking of Kat, go and visit her wonderful 'Randomness Boards'. She's 'UniversalCall' here, and I suggest you go and read her wonderful story too. And review it, of course! Just review her story and I'm sure she'll update with the website.

Now, I really do have to apologise for the really late update of this, but what can I say? I've been really busy. I also have a month long Internet ban starting today, so technically I'm not supposed to be online. But my parents have gone to bed and what they don't know won't hurt them, eh? So I'll have hours to write, with no distractions, so hopefully I'll be able to update at a quicker pace. I guess it all depends on whether I can actually stay awake until after my 'rents have gone to bed.

Yessum. Well, I don't have anything more to say, other than Please Read, Review and Enjoy!

Lilly was pleased. Mia had been avoiding Michael for a full day, and Michael had been running around like a headless chicken – oh the irony – the whole time, trying to find her. According to Tina, Mia had spilled all to her about liking Michael, which confirmed her suspicions. Michael liking Mia was a given, of course.

Now … how to get them to admit it to each other, but still get a few laughs for everyone else out of it? Hmm, that one was going to take some considerable thought on her part.

What she needed to do, was make sure that her lovely best friend, and her dopey brother failed to do their dares. If they failed, they'd both be stuck in a hilariously funny situation for a day, which would not only fill up her photo album, but also give everyone else stitches.

Well, one way would be to give Michael another little … consequence. Yes, that's it. But what should it be? Ah, this would take some major thought. Well, one of them would be dressing up. And as their costumes would be Easter related … what could she do to make it worse for them?

Oh, what if she had the one who failed, walking around, giving out chocolate eggs?! Oh that's perfect. Simply brilliant. Michael would have to be the one though. I mean, what normal girl would want to embarrass her best friend? Then again, Lilly wasn't normal.

Michael was stressed. How could that girl just disappear into thin air? Wasn't she meant to be a princess, and therefore always in the media? Maybe if he tuned in to "Royal Watch" from the teachers lounge, he'd see Mia walking down the French corridor. Ok, probably not, but he was desperate right now. Where the hell could she be?

He'd been looking for her for just over an hour now, and hadn't eaten at all. Oh well, at least he had G&T _(A/N: That doesn't sound right. I swear that's a drink – Gin and Tonic. Enh, I don't have a book on me so I have no way of checking, but if it's wrong, just ignore it)_ next. Their teacher was never in the room, so maybe he'd be able to wolf down a sandwich then talk to Mia. Yes, talk to Mia.

Half an hour later, Michael entered the classroom and started looking around for Mia. Spotting her sitting by the wall with Lilly and Tina, he marched over to her and stood right in front of her, so it would be impossible for her to miss him.

"Mia? I need to tell you something. It's kind of important … can we talk? In _private_?"

She looked up at him, then away, which only served to make Michael even more nervous then he was already. Oh he looked quite cool and collected, but inside he was an enormous bag of nerves.

"Go away, doofus." Lilly snarled at him. He grabbed his sisters arm and pulled her over to a corner.

"What are you playing at? You told me I had to tall Mia my … feelings. How can I do that when her friends, and my own _sister_, won't even let me near her?!" He hissed at the girl in front of him, waving his hands about for emphasis.

"Aww, you didn't think I was going to make it easy for you, did you? Oh poor Michael. So naïve. And could you stop waving your arms around? You look like a broken windmill." She bit back, hitting one of his arms and producing a loud "Ouch!" from him.

"Ok, I don't hate you. I do _not_ hate you. No I don't." He started repeating over and over to try and stop himself from reaching out and shaking the snickering sibling in front of him.

"Michael, Michael, Michael. What are we going to do with you? You know you'll have to tell her before the tie is up, don't you? No dawdling. Hah, what am I talking about? You know all this … don't you. Ta tah, dear!" Lilly finished her little speech and made her way back to Tina and Mia, who had been watching with interest as Michael flailed about like a fish out of water, and Lilly snapped … as usual.

Did this put Michael off? Of course not. He wasn't one to quit when it came to affairs of the heart. Well, ok that might not be completely true, but it was the only thing that was going to get him through the week. Apart from the thought of what Mia was going to say when he finally got to tell her that e loved her. But that didn't exactly fill him with happy thoughts.

Of course Mia was going to laugh in his face, and then proceed to tell him that she was looking for someone with more class and stature, rather than a musician, who is three years older than her and is practically on the computer 24/7. Oh the life of a seventeen year old male.


	6. Brain Damage?

A/N: Yeah, I'm back. Don't you just hate me? Ok, I'm dedicating this to Juju because she rocks and is like an older sister to me. Thanks for being so protective of me and staying up with me though the looooooong nights. (Trust me, very _long_ nights) Yes I know she probably won't read this, but at least it's out there, right? Juju, I love you, hon.

Anyway, thanks to everyone who reviewed, and to the people who read but don't bother clicking that little button? Yeah, could you please just review? One little review that would take up like, 5 seconds of your time would be fantastic for me. And Lucie? Keep doin' that good work you do. You have me in stitches. Not literally of course, but whatever.

Oh! And to the reviewer who asked where the line "Welcome to the exciting world of Chemistry" came from (I don't remember if you reviewed this story, or the other one. Sorry!) The line came from an episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Where Will tries to study but he only ever gets as far as reading that line before he's interrupted.

Please Read, Review and Enjoy!

"Mia, whatever you're doing to avoid Michael, it's working a treat. He is getting so annoyed." Lilly actually looked happy for once, "I love my life."

"Um, are you feeling ok, Lil?" Mia asked carefully, shutting her journal and propping her head up with a hand.

"Absolutely great. Never better! For Michael is going mad and all is right with the world." Lilly sang out while wiggling in her chair.

"Oh dear god, Lilly's gone mad!" Tina screamed and started poking her on the arm. "Lilly? Lilly are you in there? Ok, don't panic. We think an alien might have taken over your body. We don't know how to sort it, but we think this might help" And with that said, she reached out a manicured hand and slapped Lilly over the head.

"Ouch! What the hell was that for?" She yelled, rubbing the sore spot on the top of her head, where Tina's nails had hit her. Tina just settled back into her chair and continued filing her nails into a point.

"Ignore her. PMS." Mia said, snickering at the offended look Tina was sending her way. "Did you say Michael's going mad? What's wrong with him?" She asked, getting slightly worried.

"Yeah, he's going mad as a hatter," Lilly started laughing at the mental image of Michael prancing about in a top hat with a dormouse on his shoulder. "And there's nothing exactly wrong with him. He's just getting a little frustrated because he can't do what he wants to do." And what he wanted to do was tell Mia he loved her. But she didn't need to know that. At least, not right now.

"Oh. So he's ok?"

"Psychically yes. Mentally … well let's just say he hasn't been right for years!" Lilly started laughing away to the point of tears, yet again.

"Seriously, now. What's up with her?" Tina had finished sharpening her claws and had moved on to staring at the hyena they called Lilly.

"Something to do with Michael. You know how happy she gets when he's miserable. I hope it's nothing too terrible though. Michaels uh … Michael's a nice guy." Mia blushed a deep scarlet and opened up her journal again. If they thought that was strange, they hadn't seen anything yet. For five minutes later, Boris came rushing into the room. He dropped down on both knees before Lilly and said

"Lilly! My dear Lilly! Michael told me you had a brain problem, I hope it is not too serious! I could not bear to lose you." in a high pitched tone of voice.

Lilly turned a shade of white, then green, and finally red, before springing up out of her seat and screaming

"I'm going to get that snivelling little brat! He's going to rue the day he ever tried to get one up on Lilly Moscovitz!" then she grabbed an apple and ran at full speed out of the cafeteria.

"Has Lilly actually got a brain malfunctioning problem?" Boris asked Tina, while still on both knees.

"Of course she hasn't. Although … you never can rule out the possibility of Lilly being mentally challenged. I mean, she shows all the signs." Tina said offhandedly, as Boris got more and more nervous and worried. After listening to Tina go on in the same way for another two minutes, he stuck his fingers into his ears and ran screaming from the room. All Tina had to say on the matter was

"Hey, he's not good at taking bad news is he."

Now Mia was worried for Michael's safely. The last time Lilly got on one of her I-have-to-kill-Michael fixations, Michael ended up in casualty with a broken arm. Ok, so this was nine years ago, when Mia and Lilly were six years old, and Michael fell off a slide … but whatever. She was still worried.

Then there was the whole "Michael's gone mad" thing. 'What would be frustrating him so much?' She thought, spooning some sort of lumpy yellow goo onto some bread. Maybe he wanted to tell her he hated the sight of her, and never wanted to have to speak to her or see her ever again? Well that would be a likely story.

But then again, maybe he wanted to find her and tell her how much he loved her. Ok the second one was only going to happen in her fantasies, but hey, a girl can dream, can't she?

Well, only time would tell. She'd find out sooner or later. She was bound to. If Lilly hadn't killed him, of course.


	7. On The Hunt

(A/N: Hey, here's the next part. Thanks for the reviews. Don't stop reviewing, please? And please go and review Michelle's (Daydreamer022) story too as she doesn't get half as many reviews as she should do. Same goes for Lucie. Although she can be pretty big headed when she puts her mind to it, she still rocks. And Review Kats story. She writes for the incredible Mediator category, and you should go read her stories too, because she's fantastic and Jesse is hot.

Now this chapter is dedicated to Lucie, because she's fantastic etc ... we all love you Lucie, so update your story ASAP. Oh, and could you and Michelle please switch the damn names back? It's confusing me to no end, seriously.

Read, Review and Enjoy!)

Lilly was on the hunt. Who for? Why none other than her lovely older brother, Michael. So far, she hadn't seen hide nor hair of him, and it wasn't helping matters that everywhere she went, people seemed to know where he was.

After the 60th person snickering about that "Moscovitz guy who ran through here about 5 minutes ago" she'd had enough.

"Where is that stupid excuse for a brother? And don't tell me you don't know as I _know_ you do." Lilly snarled at a random freshman boy who was passing by, grabbing him by the collar and pinning him to a nearby wall. Lilly could be vicious when she was angry.

"I … I don't know! I don't! Leave me alone!" He squealed, turning a shade of white as he tried to get her to let go. That was one iron fast grip she had.

"_Sure_ you don't. And I'm the Queen of England. Now tell me. Where. Is. He?!" She stepped closer and growled at him, thumping him onto the wall behind as she said the last few words.

"All right! Ok, ok! … He's … in the … library." The boy, who's name was Stuart, said with a defeated look on his face.

"He can't be. I checked the library 10 minutes ago. Now where is he really?"

"Michael's going to kill me." She heard him mutter, before he sighed and pointed to an abandoned classroom across the hall.

"Thank you. … Now skedaddle!" She hissed at him and letting go of his collar and brushing him off roughly.

Making her way quietly to the classroom opposite, she stopped, looked around and took a deep breath. Thinking of all the things she would do to her stupid, annoying prick of a brother – These included having him castrated, bronzed or buried in a small box with maggots and, his personal pet peeve, slugs. – she pressed her ear up against the door and heard shuffling and coughing. She had him now.

Some people would say she was overreacting. I mean, all he did was tell her boyfriend she was mentally unstable. That was pretty light for Michael she had to admit. So why did she really want to find him and hit him over the head with a large blunt object?

Well, mainly because he was an idiot who couldn't see what was right in front of his face. How the hell do you not notice that the girl you've been in love with has loved you back for years? Stupid dimwit.

So she got ready for the attack. Putting down her school bag outside the room, she put one hand on the door handle and opened the door.

"Hello Michael, uses who's going to-- Mia? What?" Lilly was shocked to find her best friend, sitting on a desk and swinging her legs.

"Hey Lil. What brings you here?" She asked, smiling.

"I left you in the cafeteria. How the hell did you get here so quickly? More to the point, why are you even here? This is just an old classroom with ancient computers and a blackboard. Nothing that would interest you." She looked around and scoffed at the blackboard. Who even uses those anymore?

Mia looked thoughtful for a minute. Looking around the room herself, she saw what Lilly was getting at. This really was just a dusty old room with a few out-of-order computers, a blackboard with equations written on it, and a cupboard …

"Oh … you know. I was just um … just trying to find somewhere to sit and uh … write! Yep, I was just finding a room where I could sit and hide from the teachers. You know how much they hate it when they find us sitting in their classrooms at lunch. It means they can't sit around talking on the phone and smoking. Not that it ever stopped Mrs Hill, of course." She said.

Lilly took that as a reasonable explanation. The teachers didn't like people in their classrooms at lunch, and it was pretty cold outside, so …

"But a guy outside said that … How long have you been on here?" She asked.

"Oh, about 15 minutes now. I left the cafeteria right after you went rushing out. Is everything Ok?" She sounded calm but her nostrils were flaring, big time.

"Mia, you're lying to me. How long have you been here?" She asked again. Mia shielded her nose and pretended to sneeze.

"No, really! I've only been here for 15 or so minutes." And when she'd finished talking, she lowered her hand and reached for a tissue, grinning nervously.

"… If you say so. Well, I have to go and find my lovely brother. You haven't seen him, have you?" She said, watching Mia's nose for any sign of a flare.

"What? Michael?" Her eyes lit up at the mention of him. Oh it really was so obvious that she loved him. Stupid boy.

"No, Apu from the Simpsons. Of course Michael! Who else would I be talking about? Jeez." Lilly paced around the table Mia was sitting on and muttered anything that came into her head at that moment.

"Uh … um, n-no I don't know where Michael is. W-why would I?" She turned around quickly and Lilly couldn't tell if she was telling the truth or not. She was a very convincing liar when her back was turned.

"Ok … if you see him, tell him he's in for it. Yes?" And then Lilly turned and walked out of the classroom, to go and find some other freshman who would know where he would be hiding.

"Phew, that was a close one!" Mia breathed a sigh of relief and knocked on the only cupboard in the room. A few seconds later, who should appear, but one Michael Moscovitz.


	8. A Little Chat Or Not

(A/N: And I'm back yet again. You must all be so sick of me now. But Juju has FINALLY come back from her trip, so i'm putting this up in celebration. Now you should all go thank Juju. Ok? Anyway, thanks for the lovely reviews. I don't exactly know when this'll end, but we're on the third day, out of seven, and I'm planning on skimming over a couple days or it'll get too long and drag. You know? So anything from 4 – 6 chapters after this one.

Please Read, Review and Enjoy!)

Coughing, Michael opened the door and stumbled out, clutching his throat and muttering about how Lilly was a witch in girls clothing.

"Thanks, Thermopolis. She's out for my blood. Only god knows why. It's not like I did anything bad. Well … _that_ bad, anyway." Michael said, brushing off all the dust which had settled in his hair.

Mia didn't say anything, but blushed a bright red and twiddled a bit of what hair she had around her fingers.

"Mia? Mia please. What have I done? Why won't you talk to me?" He asked her, turning around and standing in front of the flushed girl. All she did, however, was turn away from him and walk over to one of the beaten and very old computers lying on a table, and start fiddling with the mouse.

"Mia, come on. What have I done? Have I upset you or something?" He was becoming worried now. At this point, she was beginning to feel so bad. Here was Michael, trying to talk to her, and she just had to ignore him.

She really, really hated Lilly.

But she had warned Michael that Lilly was coming by pointing up the corridor and then to the cupboard, so maybe she could communicate with him by nodding and pointing? Lilly never said anything about not being allowed to point, nod or write? Bingo. Mia shook her head and Michael frowned.

"So you're not mad at me?" He asked. Another shake of the head was his answer.

"So why won't you talk to me?" Now this one was tricky. Looking around for a way to explain, she spotted the ancient blackboard, and a piece of chalk. Perfect. Walking up to the board and picking up the chalk, she began to write. Michael read what she wrote.

"_'Sorry, I can't talk …'_. You can't talk? Is there something wrong with your voice? But you have a really nice voice." Mia turned around and looked at Michael with a shocked expression on her face. "Er, what I meant is … um, you have a lovely voice, you know, it's really nice in the sense of uh … go on, you were explaining why you can't talk?"

She raised one eyebrow and made a mental note to ask him what exactly he meant by that before picking up the chalk and finishing off what she had started writing.

"'_Sorry, I can't talk to you because of a bunch of reasons I can't explain right now. I'll tell you in 4 days, I promise.' _What's happening in 4 days? Why can't you tell me now?" Michael was confused. All Mia did, though, was walk back over to him and plonk herself down onto a desk.

"Mia? Please, just talk to me? I have something I need to tell you and I can't exactly say it when you won't reply, you know? Please?" … Nothing.

He went over to her and sat down on the floor beside her. They stayed like that for what seemed like hours before one of them finally moved. Michael stood up and stretched, working the kinks out of his back. As he did this, however, Mia got a good look at his stomach and her mouth fell open. Unluckily for her, Michael looked over right at that moment.

"Like what ya see, Thermopolis?" He grinned at her and she blushed for what seemed like the millionth time that lunchtime. "Ah it's Ok. What girl wouldn't want to look at this piece of hot stuff?" He struck a pose. She couldn't take it anymore, and burst out laughing.

"Ahh Thermopolis! That's much better. That face always needs to have a smile on it, you hear? Good girl." He smiled and sat down next to her, resting a hand on her shoulder. "Ah what do I have to do to make you talk, missy?"

She shrugged and that would be when she realised his hand was on her shoulder. Michael's hand was on her shoulder. And he didn't seem inclined to move it any time soon. What was up with him? Maybe he hit his head on something when he was in that cupboard? Well she wasn't complaining right now.

"C'mon Mia! One word won't hurt, will it? You couldn't possibly get into any trouble with one word?" Mia looked at him and raised an eyebrow. "Ok, guess you could." Michael sighed and stood up, taking his hand off of Mia's shoulder and grabbing one of her hands.

"Look, we're late for G&T so why don't I try and make you speak there? Yes? Ooh, I forgot, you can't say no! Thank the lord. Come on Mia." He grinned cheekily at her and dragged her out of the room, unaware of the thoughts going through Mia's mind. Wow he was hot when he was bossy.

Five minutes later, they arrived at the G&T classroom, and walked in. Mrs Hill was in the teachers lounge as always, so they didn't get told off for being 15 minutes late to a lesson. Just as well Tina was in that class. Who else would have told her that Michael was taking a note to Mademoiselle Klein and Mia was in the bathroom? From the way Lilly was eyeing the pair of them, they could rule her out for sure.

All too soon, they saw Lilly rise up out of her seat, and start to make her way towards them.

Boy she was scary.


	9. G&T, Yet Again

(A/N: Ok, this is dedicated to all the people I talk to on AIM and the boards, because you're all fantastic and slightly weird. Meant in the nicest way possible, of course. Thank you for reviewing, and please keep doing so, Ok? Good. And I am REALLY sorry for not updating sooner. I've just been sick, and it's been a weird time for me, etc. Yeah. Anyway. I know, not a good excuse and all that, but it's hard trying to balence a social life (Hah!) and finding time to write when you basically don't yave a sleeping pattern (I hear you guys who talk to me going 'Ohh, so THAT'S why she's always on at like, 4 in the morning!'). But I try. Yep yep.

Read, Review and Enjoy.)

"I've been looking for you everywhere." Lilly hissed in Michael's ear as soon as she got close enough, grabbing Michael's wrist and sinking her sharp nails deep into his skin.

He'd always begged mom to make her cut those damn nails short, but she'd somehow always brush him off by muttering a feeble excuse, along the lines of "Lilly needs to have some sort of protection. She's a girl. You aren't. She can't protect herself as well as you can". Which was completely screwed up if you asked him.

If there was anyone who didn't need protecting, it was Lilly. Why, she could fight off a gang of 4th grade girls when she was in playschool! But mom or dad never seemed to see this, and insisted that he should learn to deal with his obvious jealousy. Jealousy of what, exactly?!

"Oh have you? I had no idea." He muttered back to her, shooting a small smile in Mia's direction, as she was beginning to eye them both suspiciously.

"Don't give me any of that shit, you … you … Argh!" And with one final dig into his wrist, she reached over, grabbed Mia by the arm and dragged her over to a waiting Tina, who had been eyeing the group weirdly for the last five minutes, with a knowing look on her face.

What she knew exactly, Michael wasn't sure. But from the way she was now eyeballing Mia, he was pretty sure it was to do with her.

As the pair of girls finally reached Tina, they sat down and Mia pulled out a few books.

"Hey guys, do you think you could help me with my Algebra now? Since I'm not allowed to speak to Michael, I'm falling behind with my work and I really need the hel—" Mia got cut off by a huffing Lilly.

"Where did you find him?" She asked, shooting a glare over to where Michael was now sitting, his head in his hands.

"Um … find who?" She replied meekly, opening her Algebra notebook to the right page and placing her pen on top.

"Don't act stupid with me, Mia. You know perfectly well who I'm talking about. Now answer the question." She hissed at Mia, as Tina looked on with a confused expression on her face.

"Oh, um. I just … bumped into him outside the G&T room, five minutes ago. Yeah." She had to think about that one. What if Lilly noticed her nostrils flaring like mad? Maybe she didn't register that little thought …

"Your nostrils are flaring." Was all she got in reply though. Damn, she did notice.

Picking up her Algebra book and raising it so it covered her nose, she said "Ok, maybe it was 10 minutes ago. That's the truth, Lils!"

"10 minutes? What the hell did you do with Michael for 10 minutes? Wait, don't answer that. Please, for all that is holy, don't answer that." She put her head in her hand. "Bad mental images. Oh please, get the pictures out of my head!"

"Lilly! I mean, Michael is nice and kinda cute, but we didn't do anything at all. Not even talk, thanks to you. I didn't say a single word, Ok?" Mia spluttered, her face turning beetroot.

"Good, good. It's nice to see you can keep to dares." Lilly moved off the table she had been sitting on, and slipped into the seat behind the desk Tina and Mia were sitting at.

"Thanks, Lil. I think, anyway." And, thinking the conversation was over, she turned back to Tina and opened her mouth, only to be interrupted once more.

"… You think my brother is cute?"

Damn it. What a big mouth she had sometimes.

On the other side of the room, Michael was sitting at a desk, confused. Why hadn't Mia spoken to him? Maybe she was sick or had a mouth infection. Wait, could you even get mouth infections?

He'd been running all these possibilities and random thoughts through his mind ever since the start of G&T, after Mia had been dragged off by the arm by his lovely sister. So far, all he'd come up with, was that either Ma had lost all use of her voice, or she hated him.

Now the first one couldn't be true, as at that moment, she was busy chatting and laughing away with Tina, as Lilly nursed her wounded pride after their "little squabble". So it must be the second option.

Oh god, Mia hated him. What had he even done, anyway? Well, he'd once glued a feather to her forehead while she slept, but that was a long time ago. He'd been 12, and of course he'd have done a thing like that. It was pretty funny, too.

Watching a 9 year old Mia walk around with a huge purple feather stuck to her forehead had to be one of the greatest memories he had. Come to think of it, most of the good memories he had involved Mia in some way. Hmm.

Well, he had plenty of time to ponder that. After all, it's not like he could concentrate on anything else when he had some serious sister grilling to do later. And he knew exactly how to get the mean, snotty little girl to tell him everything he needed to know. At least, he thought he did.


	10. Realisation

(A/N: Thanks to all my reviewers. You all rock, and please keep doin' that wonderful thing you do (I'm talking about reviewing here, but if it applies to writing, then I mean that too). Ok, as it's now summer (Bloody hell, it's about time. only 2 months longer than the US. Jeez.) I'm going to be a bit busier, so I might not be able to update as often. Taylor seems insistent on keeping me busy, and he's pretty hard to shake off, so I'll write whenever I can, and update when I find time to. Ok? Ok. And I would just like to say now that I still have no idea how long this thing'll be, as i'm in the middle of writers block (Which SUCKS, I might add) so can't finish it off. Now, this website screwed up, and I only got like, 5 reviews total for both of the fics I have up, so I'm sorry for not updating this sooner. I thought you'd all gone off me or something. Well, until I checked this website and saw I had more than I thought, of course.

Read, Review and Enjoy.)

Lilly was sitting in her room when she heard a bang from outside. Rolling her eyes, she stood up and made her way to the door. Peaking out through the crack, she saw nothing out of order, so, shaking her head, she dipped back into her room and went to close the door again.

Suddenly, a foot wedged its way between the door and the doorframe, holding it open, and she saw Michael looming out of the shadows. Lilly screamed and put a hand on her forehead.

"Michael, you idiot! Don't do that!" She growled, hitting Michael on the arm with about as much force as she could muster.

"Oh I am terribly sorry, dear Lillikins. Didn't mean to frighten you there." He smirked and pushed his way into her room discreetly.

"What do you want? I haven't got any friend 'round so you can't embarrass me, and I haven't touched any of your stuff for a day so you can't get me on that one either." She covered all the bases quickly and shut the door behind him.

If mom and dad found out Michael was in her room, they'd psychoanalyze her. It wasn't every day that she let her brother into her room and stay there.

"When have you ever touched my stuff?" He questioned. He couldn't remember anything going missing, or mysteriously turning up damaged, which was the usual sign of Lilly's meddling in his business. "Ok, nevermind. That's not what I wanted to talk about."

"Oh? Go on then. What did you want to talk about? Or should I say who." Lilly said snidely, picking up a nail file and shaping her nails nonchalantly.

"Technically, it's _whom_." Michael muttered under his breath, leaning against her bedside table and examining his nails too.

"What are you talking about?" She asked, putting down the file and making her way over to the shelf of video tapes she had. Tilting her head sideways, she started reading the titles, mumbling various words under her breath.

"Not who. That's not grammatically correct. It's _whom_." He said, clearly mocking Lilly behind her back, by tilting his head sideways and bobbing his head in a pigeon like imitation.

"Michael, does it look like I care about grammatical correctness? No. No it does not. Now get to the point before I throw you out." She hissed at him, whirling around, crossing her arms and tapping her foot in an agitated manner.

"Fine, Darth Vader." He paused to revel in the joy of Lilly's facial expression, "What's the deal with Mia?"

"What do you mean? There'd nothing wrong with her. I mean, sure, she's a bit less assertive than she should be, and yeah, maybe her family life is a little too hectic, but that's nothing to be worri–" Michael cut her off, mid ramble.

"Mia's perfect as she is. There's nothing wrong with the way she's acting to anyone else. It just seems to be me she's not speaking to. Now, I know you're my sister, and I know we haven't exactly seen eye to eye on a few things …" He stopped talking for a second and shook his head, before carrying on, "But you're still my sister, and I'm still your brother. Now is there anything you want to tell your lovely sibling?"

"Um … no. Can't say there is. Nothing springs to mind, no." She smirked again and leaned against the table, which was weighted down with schoolwork and video camera equipment.

"Fine." He rolled his eyes dramatically, "Let's cut with the crap. What did you tell Mia that made her stop talking to me? Don't deny it – I know it was you."

"I said nothing to her. Nothing at all. Nope." She turned back to her videos and finally settled on 'A Walk To Remember'. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go and get ready. Mia's coming over in about half an hour and we're going to have a girlie night in. So if you wouldn't mind …" She pointed to the door and coughed loudly.

"No. Not until you tell me what you said to her." Michael sat down on her bed and crossed his legs. He'd follow her around all night if he needed to. Which wouldn't be much of a hardship as, by the sounds of it, she'd be with Mia for the rest of the night.

"Well, let's just say she's experiencing roughly the same situation as you are." She muttered. "Now Get OUT."

"So you've done the same thing to her as you have with me? But that doesn't make sense. Mia doesn't like me like that. Does she? Nah. So what would stop her from talking to me? Wait … unless you've told her she can' talk to me. Which would of course make my job even harder …" He mumbled to himself, finally working it out. "Oh you little witch. Why the hell did you do that?!?!" He screeched.

Just then, The Drs Moscovitz burst into Lilly's room and looked around. "What's the problem? We thought we heard fighting? Do either of you want to talk about it?" Mrs Moscovitz said hurriedly.

"No mom." They chorused, standing next to eachother and smiling innocently."

"Ok then. See, darling? No problem here. Michael, will you come and help me find my keys? I seem to have misplaced them. We're going to that charity event your mother has been harping on about al week tonight, so could you look after the girls? Good boy."

Michael nodded and, shooting a look at Lilly, followed his dad out of the room, with their mom not far behind. Breathing a sigh of relief, Lilly made a mental note to always keep that door shut, and her nose out of anything that happens outside of her room.


	11. Toast, Please

(A/N: Ok, back again. I am seriously sorry for the two month hiatus, but I went back to school and I'm doing GCSEs, which, if you don't know what those are, are basically the exams that'll affect the rest of my life, what job I'll get, where I'll live etc. So no pressure huh. And we have to do coursework, which means I've been spending the last 2 or so months writing original writing for my English coursework, and trying to learn Italian verbs in the space of ten minutes. Not the easiest thing for me to do seeing as I suck at anything that has to be memorised (For anyone who cares, I got an A for my English and 75 on my Italian test). But I digress. On with the story. And I'll try and get this updated more frequently.

Read, Review and Enjoy.)

It was the fifth day of the dare. Only two more, long, long days to go, Mia thought, sighing and resting her head in her hands.

"So let's go over this again. If you put the polynomials … You're not paying any attention to me, are you." Lilly rolled her eyes and snapped the algebra book shut. "Shoot."

"Hmm? What?" Mia sprung up and mentally slapped herself. What was up with her today? She couldn't seem to be able to keep her mind on anything other than Michael Moscovitz lately. This wasn't exactly anything new, but before, at least before, she could pretend to look like she was thinking of something else entirely.

"What's on your mind?" Lilly repeated slowly, shaking her head and snapping her fingers, "Or should I say Who?"

"W-What? Who? What are you talking about? I'm not thinking about anyone or anything. Nope. Nothing on my mind right now. Blank as paper. Yep." She said, keeping her eyes on the open notebook in front of her.

"Well, that's slightly worrying how you're able to clear your mind so easily. And also slightly insulting, since you're supposed to be thinking about Algebra. Which is, after all, why I've been spending the last few hours going over it." She lectured on, tapping the Algebra book which was propped up against a jug of pulpless Orange Juice on the table.

"Oh. Oh, well of course I was listening to what you were saying. You know, uh, Algebra … fun. I love learning it. Yeah." She muttered back to her best friend before picking up a pen and starting to doodle on the notepad she was supposed to be writing everything Lilly was saying in.

"Mia, what have I told you about your nostrils?" At this, Mia clamped a hand over her nose and said "I don't know what you're talking about. There's nothing wrong with my nostrils. They're perfectly normal. Ok, maybe a little big, but that's not a crime is it? No, it's not."

"Mia, you're lying. And take your hand off of your nose. If you want to blow your nose, please use a tissue. You know how gross it is, sneezing into your hand? Plus it's very unhygienic." She leaned against the back of her chair and smirked at Mia, who had turned red.

"I wasn't blowing my nose. And I wasn't lying." She carried on doodling a little pigeon in the corner of the page, "Go on, I'm listening."

"So Michael, huh" Lilly smirked again and stretched out like a cat, before springing back and yawning. They had been working for two hours before Mia's attention wandered, and she thought that was enough. Time for a break.

"M-Michael? Uh, what about him? What do you mean? Is there something wrong with him?" She stopped doodling for a second and looked up at the girl opposite her, who was now filing her nails, yet again.

"Oh, nothing is wrong with him. But your reaction speaks volumes." She grinned back at Mia, looked back down to her broken nail and carried on trying to fix it. How was she supposed to cause maximum pain to Michael with only nine sharp nails?

"What reaction? I didn't have any reaction. I was totally reactionless. Nope, you wouldn't have seen any reaction from me. No, none at all. Nothing–" But she was cut off by a hand over her mouth. The weird thing was that Lilly was sitting opposite her, with both hands occupied. Maybe she had three hands? No, that's just silly. Where would the third hand be, anyway?

Moving away from that thought, she tried to get a look at the hand, and noticed it was masculine. Michael? But wasn't he checking out Columbia today? At least, that's what Lilly had told her. No, it couldn't be Michael. Why would he even try and talk to her after how she had treated him lately? He wouldn't.

But apparently he would, because two seconds later, she heard a voice in her ear. "Why, hello Thermopolis." And then the hand was removed and she heard someone scraping the chair back next to her.

"Go away doofus." Lilly said without even looking up from her nails.

"Now, now, Lilly. Is that any way to treat your dear loveable brother? No. No, it's not. Now be nice and go and make me some toast." He said, grinning at Mia who was watching Lilly with concern – She was turning very red.

"And what makes you think I'm going to give you anything short of a fist in your jaw?" She snapped across the table at Michael, ignoring the fact that his arm was casually slung around the back of Mia's chair. Something she hadn't realised yet, being so caught up in the squabble.

"Because you're my wonderful sister, who loves me so much she'd do anything for me," After he said this, he paused to throw a smile in Mia's direction, who was trying to stifle a giggle at the expression on Lilly's face, "Plus there's that whole conversation we had yesterday … You know, I could really spoil your fun if I wanted to …"

Lilly stopped filing and threw a glare at Michael. "You wouldn't."

"Wouldn't I?" He replied, raising an eyebrow and smirking at her. Lilly looked shocked for about a second before slumping over and waving her hand, letting him go on. "Toast please. Two slices, lots of jelly. Thanks, Lil. You're such a doll."

Lilly stomped off to the kitchen, muttering curse words under her breath and swearing to gut Michael in his sleep. Michael took no notice of that and instead turned to Mia. "Hey, we need to have a little talk."


	12. Begging?

(A/N: Thank you for all the lovely reviews. It's nice to see that after a two month hiatus, I'm not completely forgotten. Ah, I feel the love, people. And Lucie, dah-ling, don't worry. I won't do it again if I can help it. Now go update TKAP please? Thank yee. Now I haven't got much else to say, other than please keep reviewing and telling me what you think as all comments are welcome. But if you just have to flame, then please give me some pointers on how you think I can improve it, rather than just slagging me off without any reason. Thanks.

Read, Review and Enjoy.)

Damn it. How was she supposed to avoid talking to Michael when they were sitting in the same room alone together? Wait a minute. She was alone with Michael.

Oh god, oh god.

And what was that on the back of her chair? An arm? Whoa. Michael's arm was on the back of her chair. Oh, god. Why did Lilly have to make that stupid dare? Everything would be so much simpler if she hadn't. Or even if she'd just refused it. Why oh why didn't she just refuse it? Stupid, Mia. Very, very stupid.

Why was the world against her possibly getting together with Michael? No. That wouldn't happen though. She was getting ahead of herself.

'Just see what he wants to talk to you about first.' She thought to herself and closed the notebook she'd been doodling in for the last fifteen minutes. Turning to Michael, she folded her hands in her lap and set her gaze to a point just over his left shoulder.

"Mia …" Michael paused to reach out and re-position her face so he had eye contact with her, for a change. "I'm getting the feeling the feeling that you don't like me. At all."

She opened her mouth to argue, but a mental vision of her dressed as a giant egg promptly shut her up once more. Michael sighed.

"Come on, Mia. Please talk to me!" He begged, taking her hand loosely in his without thinking. She looked down, shocked, but still didn't talk. Although it was a lot of effort to remain seated and calm when he was holding her hand and unthinkingly stroking her palm with his thumb. God, did that feel right.

"Mia, I need to tell you something very, very important but I can't tell you if you won't talk to me. It's taken me a long time to bring myself to the point where I'm brave enough to tell you, and if you don't say anything then I'm just going to be … well, you know." He said this in a rush, searching her eyes for any sign of surrender, but saw nothing apart from something he couldn't seem to name.

She took a deep breath and opened her mouth, with Michael looking at her, eyes widening hopefully.

"I … I …" She stuttered, trying to get the egg picture out of her head, and failing miserably.

"Mia, come on. Please? For me? I just need to know you're not mad at me. If you are, then what have I done?" He questioned, a puzzled look on his face as he tried to recall any bad thing me may have done to her, or said about her. But really, anything he thought about Mia was nice. Probably too nice, come to think of it.

Not that he'd ever admit that to her, of course. Well, he might. If she felt the same way. And that wasn't going to happen in a million years because really, what would a gorgeous girl like her see in a dork like him? Nothing. That's what.

She looked at him and smiled a lopsided smile. He really was adorable when he was confused. And he was confused often. But having Lilly for a sister would pretty much confuse anyone. How he was able to live with her for the last fourteen or so years and not go completely mad was anyone's guess.

But then again, he did spend nearly all the time he spent at home holed up in his room with all those 'No Entry' signs on the door so she supposed that would be how. Poor boy. Poor, lovely, handsome Michael. But Lilly was a nice enough person once you got to know her. And a pretty good friend most of the time. Just not this past week.

Putting all those thoughts out of her head for the moment, she looked away from him and shook her head. But it lacked major enthusiasm, and Michael noticed that. If he carried on badgering her maybe she'd talk to him and possibly tell him what he'd done wrong? Well, it was worth a shot. But he'd have to go about this very, very carefully. And quickly, before Lilly came back.

"Go on, Mia. Go on." He grinned at her and gave her hand a little squeeze, signalling her to go on. But she couldn't, could she?

Well, Lilly wasn't around. And it's not like she'd be back any time soon, right? She always was bad at any type of cooking, so, knowing her, she'd probably burn the first six slices of bread and put peanut butter on instead of jelly. So she gave in, at long last.

"Michael, I can't– " She started, but was cut off by the one person she really didn't want to see or hear at that moment.

"I knew you'd cave! I knew it I knew it I knew it I knew it!" Lilly squealed, jumping up and down on the spot and doing something which appeared to be a cross between the chicken dance and the backstroke, the toast sitting forgotten on a table by the kitchen.

'Aw crap', she thought.


	13. Mia Loses!

(A/N: SO sorry for the wait. But I'm on Christmas holidays now so I'm going to go into full scale writing frenzy and get this fic all finished before my birthday. Or, you know, way before that hopefully. I think there are only two more chapters left to write and then we're all done! Yay. Anyway, I suppose you cold call this a late but not that late Christmas present for you, so enjoy! And please review? Thank you. I would appreciate it so, so much. Oh, and

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Read, Review and Enjoy.)

"Lilly, you can't say I lost from that. I mean I said one word! And you know, names don't count when you're playing scrabble so it shouldn't count in dares either. I mean, come onnn." Mia spluttered, fully aware of the fact that Michael had taken a seat and was staring at her curiously.

'Probably wondering why Lilly's friends with someone with triangle hair and feet the size of skis.' She thought, inwardly sighing.

"Ahh, but you also said 'I' and that, despite the fact that I know you meant the one lettered word 'I', can also mean 'eye', as in eyeball, which is a word. So you lose and I win! Haaaa!" Lilly did the chicken backstroke again and started laughing wickedly.

"Technically, Lilly, you can't say that Mia has lost because she said 'I'. Because we both know she didn't mean 'I' in the eyeball sense of the word and you can't catch her out for saying one letter. And you know you can't, don't you diddykins." Michael smiled evilly and winked at Mia as soon as Lilly's back was turned.

This, of course, sent Mia into a blushing frenzy. He was defending her honour and trying to get her out of having to wear a stupid costume! Boy did she love him.

"Shut up, doofus." Was all Lilly was able to get out before the overwhelming urge to reach out and smack her brother upside the head became too strong to ignore, and she promptly did so with a bit more force than she'd maybe intended, because as soon as she'd done it, Michael reached up and started rubbing the back of his head and complaining.

"Ouch! Geez, Lilly, we need to get mom and dad to book you into an Anger Management course." He muttered, still rubbing the back of his head and grumbling about the pain.

"Oh don't even joke about that. You know how they have connections." Lilly replied, sitting on the back of the couch and folding her arms. "And anyway. If I had to go then you just know that I'll drag you along for the ride, blabber mouth Moscovitz."

"You wouldn't dare" He mock gasped, slapping a hand over his mouth and raising his eyebrows as high as they could go.

"Sarcasm doesn't suit you." Was all she said to this blatant teasing of her, though, and she turned to Mia.

"Mia, you lost, I won. Therefore, you have to do what we agreed you'd do if you spoke to this jerk. Even though it was only two words, you still spoke to him so you have to do it!" She cackled evilly. Michael rolled his eyes and mouthed the words 'She's nuts' to Mia, who giggled silently.

"Don't laugh at me, or I'll scramble you." She narrowed her eyes in what looked to be seriousness, but Mia saw the glint in her eyes and laughed openly, picking up the bowl of popcorn Michael had brought in from the kitchen unnoticed and picking out a piece that looked edible.

"Aw, c'mon, Lilly, don't make her do that. Have a heart!" Michael tried a last ditch attempt to get her out of it, but all he got was Lilly making a very rude gesture in his direction, and a very suggestive look to Mia which clearly said that he should tell her as soon as possible or he would suffer the same fate.

"Lilly, why do you take pleasure in the humiliation of other people?" Mia asked later that night, after Michael had hit Lilly over the head with a couch cushion and stalked off jokingly in a imitation of Lilly after she had found out that her show, 'Lilly Tells It Like It Is' wasn't being funded by their parents anymore.

"Because it amuses me." Was the simple reply she got, however. She could be so annoying at times.

"Making your friends lives as difficult as possible is amusing for you?" She asked incredulously, the pop tart which was half way to her mouth, forgotten.

"In those words? Yes." She reached over and grabbed the TV remote and quickly changed the channel over from the Disney Channel to the CNN News Channel to 'Gather information for the next show.'

"Gee, you're all heart, aren't you." She said sarcastically, rolling her eyes at Lilly's back before she attempted eating her pop tart again.

"Yes I am, and don't think I don't know you're rolling your eyes at me. Now before you eat that, can I have half? I'm starving." Lilly turned around and pointed at the pop tart which was half way to Mia's mouth, and did what she obviously thought was a pleading sweet look, but looked more like a hamster on crack.

"How do you know what I'm doing when your back is turned? What are you, psychic?!" Mia's eyes widened and she leaned back away from the other girl, a look of shock shooting over her face. But realising that asking questions wasn't going to get her anywhere when Lilly had her mind set on something, she broke the pop tart in half and gave Lilly the bigger piece.

Just then, Mia heard a noise in the hallway, and then a line of muttered expletives. A minute later, Michael popped his head around the door and beckoned to Mia while Lilly was pre-occupied with 'the breaking news down at the local Starbucks.'

"Psst, Mia. Follow me. I need to tell you something. It's important."


	14. Meet Me In The Bathroom

(A/N: And I'm back once more. I am SO sorry for the wait. Only my cat of nearly 2 years went missing and I didn't feel like writing because of it. But he's back now after 2 weeks, and he seems in perfect health (And the size of a dog, nearly double the size he was before he went missing so god only knows what he's been eating) so I'm happy once more. This chapter is dedicated to Stephanie, who you all should be thanking over and over, for without her, I probably never would have gottten around to updating, until a few months down the line. And Stephy, if you're reading this, Gimme my duck, damnit!

Read, Review and Enjoy.)

Mia shot a sideward glance over to Lilly, but realising that she was far to engrossed with the TV and food, she shrugged and walked through into the hall where she expected Michael would be. Looking around, however, she couldn't see him.

"Mia, in here!" She heard his voice wafting out from somewhere in the hallway, but she couldn't see for the life of her where he was.

"Where?" She called, her brow knotting into a look of confusion as she twirled around.

"Bathroom." came the reply. Bathroom? Why would Michael want to tell her something important in the bathroom? He really was an odd little boy. Nevertheless, she turned and walked down the hall to the first door on the left and knocked. Going by the fact that he was in fact a boy, she thought he wouldn't appreciate her doing what Lilly no doubt did, and barge into the room without giving him some kind of warning.

"Come in." He called through the painted white door of the bathroom, "It's not locked, Mia. Assuming it is Mia, of course. If it's Lilly, bog off."

She opened the door and walked in to find Michael splashing his face with water; it didn't appear to be the first time he'd done this. His t-shirt was wet and sticking to his chest and Mia couldn't help but admire it. He had to do some sort of workout to get a chest like that. Either that or he was just incredibly lucky and was born with the body of a God.

"It's me. Lilly's busy with food and TV, as per usual. You wanted to talk to me?" She smiled nervously. But why she was nervous, she had no idea. I mean it wasn't like he was going to profess his love for her on the bathroom floor. In fact, it wasn't like he was going to profess his love for her, period. But that didn't bother her. And that was a lie.

"Mia, hey." He turned around and unknowingly gave Mia a better view of his chest. It really was a near perfect chest, from what she could see through the wet shirt. She thanked her lucky stars Lilly wasn't here to see this. She'd tell him to go away and leave them alone, or to go and put on a dry shirt if he was so insistent of joining them. He usually was, for some reason. "Yeah, I did want to talk to you about something important."

"Ok. So … what is it?" She shut the door behind her and leaned on it, putting one foot on the door and balancing on the other one. Cocking her head to the side, she smiled once again at him, prompting him to go on.

"Well, Mia, you see it's like this … uh …" He looked at the floor and Mia thought the worst. 'He hates me, he's trying to tell me he doesn't want me to come over. But wait, I'm friends with Lilly and have been for years, so he can't hate me. Or he's hated me for all those years and never brought up the courage to say anything? Or maybe I'm just reading too much into this. No, no …'

The look of sadness and deep upset must have been displayed on her face however, as the next thing she knew, Michael's arm was around her. "Hey, what's wrong?" He turned her face so she was looking at him and saw that her eyes were wide and watery.

Oh great, she was going to cry and he hadn't even told her that he loved her yet. Great. She despised him so much that the mere thought of him loving her sent her into tears. This whole scenario went through so much better in his head. In his head, she said she loved him too and they grew old together, gracefully ruling over Genovia. Well, that last bit was a bit of a stretch, but if she really had to do it, he'd stand by her side, of course. But now it looked like that wasn't even going to be a problem.

"Nothing's wrong. Sorry, hormones I guess." She blushed a bright red at the mention of the dreaded 'H' word. Never in her life did she think she'd be in a bathroom with Michael Moscovitz, alone, talking about her hormones. So surreal.

"Are you sure? It's just that … no, nevermind." He leaned against the door next to her and blew away a bit of hair that had been poking him in the eye for some time.

"What?" She looked up at him and shifted to her other foot, accidentally bumping shoulders with him which triggered something in his mind.

"Mia, I have to tell you something. It's really, really important and I don't know how you're going to react but I hope it's not a bad thing, although it no doubt is as you're Lilly's best friend and mine too, and I've known you for so long and-" He cut off and looked down, taking a deep breath.

"Go on …" her voice quivered and she braced herself for the rejection she was about to receive from him. 'I won't cry', she told herself, over and over.

"Mia, I love you."


	15. Diet Coke and Pop Tarts

(A/N: Back again. And this one didn't take _too_ long, did it? I'm quite impressed with myself. Anyway, after I'd written the last chapter, I got a better idea so deleted it and re-wrote the ending. And I think its better, so hopefully you will too. Thank you for all the reviews, please keep 'em coming. This story will go on for a maximum of 2 more chapters, so don't worry. It's nearly done, people.

Please Read, Review and Enjoy.)

Mia stood, stunned at Michael's words. Those three little words she'd wanted to hear for the past eight years of her life. She had never been as happy as she was at that moment, standing in the Moscovitz family bathroom with Michael staring intently, trying to gauge her reaction and stop himself from spontaneously combusting and/or showing Mia what he'd eaten earlier that day, but displaying it all over the bathroom floor.

Her eyes sparkled with happiness and she opened her mouth, ready to utter those same words back to him when a sudden thought sprang to mind. A nasty, horribly little thought: A dare.

'That must be why he's saying this to me,' she thought, closing her mouth abruptly and breaking eye contact with him finally. It all made sense. Lilly had dared her to not talk to him. That in itself wouldn't have been an interesting social experiment to satisfy Lilly's appetite. Oh no. She must have also dared Michael to do something involving her too. To tell her he loved her to make her admit her own real feelings to him. And Michael must've gone along with it for a laugh.

But that didn't seem like the sort of thing that Michael would have wanted a part in or even found funny. But there wasn't any other reasoning she could think of that made sense to her.

'Well,' she thought, 'I have to show him that it doesn't bother me. He can't know I love him now. Not now.' And with this thought at the forefront of her mind, she looked back at him.

"Nice joke, Michael. Let me guess, Lilly dared you to say that?" She looked him in the eye once more and tried to smile weakly.

He didn't know what to say. So he told the truth. "Well, … yes, but-" He was interrupted before he had a chance to finish.

"Very funny. You crack me up. Seriously. I'm sorry, but I've got to go and talk to Lilly about something And you know, see if she's all right. She didn't look too hot earlier. Bye." And with that, she calmly pushed herself from off the door which she'd slumped against when se's first realised it was a joke, opened it and disappeared into the dark hallway beyond, quick as a flash.

Michael was stunned. She thought he was joking? She thought he didn't mean it? No, she thought he was making fun of her. He could see it in her eyes. The full enormity of the situation hit him like a ton of bricks. He'd have to follow her and convince her that he was telling her the absolute truth. O

h course, that meant clearly laying his heart on the line and letting her unknowingly stomp all over it … well, did he really have to tell her? He'd done his part of the dare. He'd told her he loved her. Was it really his fault that she'd chosen not to believe him? No, it wasn't. Maybe it was better to let her go on thinking it was some cruel joke that hasn't been thought through properly.

But that sparkle in her eyes that has appeared for the split second after he'd told her was enough to convince himself that it was a good idea. So, after a good few minutes mulling things over in the bathroom, he pulled open the door and went to try and find her.

"Lilly," Mia walked into the Den to find her best friend asleep on the couch, pop tart crumbs all around her face and somehow also on the TV screen. Should she wake her up? Was this important enough to bother her? Hell yeah, it was.

So, not being exactly gentle or considerate, she stalked over to where Lilly was lying, limbs splayed out in all directions and pinched her nostrils together. Then when her mouth opened so she could breathe once more, Mia poured the remainder of her diet coke into the noisy hole Lilly called a mouth.

Taking a step back and snickering quietly, she watched as Lilly started snorting coca cola out of her nose and spluttering about 'Evil dairy cows and their suspicious ways,' which Mia didn't even want to know about. How odd could that girl possibly be.

"Breathe, Lilly, Breathe!" She started laughing as Lilly rolled over and fell off the couch, clutching her forehead and muttering something that sounded like 'Brain Freeze.'

"Calm down, calm down. You're fine. You just uh … forgot to put the diet coke down on the table before you fell asleep is all." As she said this, she made sure to shield her nostrils, all too well aware of the flaring thing that always seemed to happen whenever she lied. Of course, she didn't know if Lilly or anyone else apart from Grandmere knew this, but it was better to be safe than sorry, wasn't it.

"Oh. I knew I forgot something. Thought it was to give Michael's brain back but of course he never had one to begin with so that couldn't have been it …" She mumbled to herself, clearly oblivious of the fat that Mia was standing over her, laughing so hard she had actually begun to cry.

When she finally calmed down enough to get a sentence out without laughing, she said, "Seeing as you've brought up the subject of Michael, I have something I need to ask you."

"Ugh, thanks," Lilly grumbled as Mia passed her a tissue to wipe the coke dripping from her nose away. "Shoot."

"You know the dare you gave me?" Waiting for a nod in the affirmative from Lilly, which she got along with an evil little smirk, she went on. "Did you happen to dare anyone else when you went about that?"

Lilly paused for a second and then started making a fuss of the miniscule drop of coke on the carpet. "Mom's gonna have a fit when she sees this. I'd better clean it up or hide it or hey Mia you want to go and get some pancakes I feel like some pancakes don't you?" She babbled like she usually did when she was trying to avoid a question.

"Lils, straight answer please."

"Ok, so I may have dared one other person. Just one, mind." She gave up, rolling her eyes at Mia's stubbornness.

"And would this other person happen to be your brother Michael?" She rested one hand on her hip and started tapping her foot.

"It may have been. Why?" Lilly asked, one eyebrow raised quizzically.

"He just told me something and I figure it couldn't be because he really felt that way because lets face it, this is me we're talking about here and for him to – well, it's impossible is all, and seeing as you dared me, I guessed you might have done the same with him too." Mia explained, rushing through the details and hoping she wouldn't ask any questions.

"What did he say to you?" Damn, Luck was not on her side today.

"That's not important. … Popcorn?"


	16. Fried Eggs and Bathroom Tales

(Bloody hell. I'm so sorry. It's been a while, huh! In my defence, I've got these exams on now that I've been preparing for, for like 2 years and a boyfriend whose band I have to promote and etc etc. I know I could give you a thousand excuses, but I'll bet anything that they wouldn't be as good as … A NICE NEW CHAPTER! Yeah. :-) And not just any new chapter. But the FINAL chapter. So hows about you show me you don't hate me by just pressing that nice little button at the top there and leaving me a lovely review. :-) Thank you!

Now, read, review and enjoy!)

'Mia, what did he ask you?' Lilly asked again, only this time with a note of impatience in her voice, coupled with amusement at the whole idea of her big brother actually telling Mia how he felt for once instead of giving her lingering looks whenever she passed in the corridor or sneaking into her room late at night whenever Mia was staying over and staring at her while she slept, which was more than a little creepy.

'Well, … just. It's not important or anything, or a big deal or- well, let's just forget it anyway! Ok, see you, Lilly!' And with that, Mia tried to make a mad dash for the door. But with Lilly being her best friend since they were little, she yawned and grabbed Mia by the ankle, pulling her with one loud bang to the floor, where she curled up into a ball to escape Lilly's nagging voice.

'What … happened.'

'Ok, fine.' She gave in and started explaining the whole story as quickly as she could, hoping that Lilly wouldn't be concentrating enough to pick up what she actually said and would just nod and smile. 'Your brother just cornered me in the bathroom and told me he loved me but I think he was joking around with me but it's not funny because well it's not and I was just wondering if maybe you put him up to it and if you did then maybe he meant it or maybe not if you put him up to it and I don't know what to do now.'

'Ok, thanks to my excellent intellect, I got every word of that. So what you are going to do, is avoid him for … ooh, about 12 more hours. That's how long you have left on the dare, isn't it?' Lilly leaned back, resting her head on the couch and sighed with contentment.'

'But … Lilly, didn't you hear a word I just said? Your brother told me he loved me but he was joking and he hurt my feelings because- ooh. Never mind.' Mia stopped herself just in time. Another second and Lilly would

'Hurt your feelings? Now why would what he said hurt your feelings, Mia.' Lilly looked at her with a knowing smile on her face.

'Oh, … just. W-well. N-n-no reason.' She stuttered and gave a nervous smile, not meeting Lilly's eyes. Lilly shuffled over so she was sitting next to Mia and put an arm around her.

'Oh Mia. Mia, Mia, Mia. How stupid do you think I am? My parents are psychologists! I can see the signs, man.' She said, waving her arms around in what Mia supposed was meant to be a spooky I-can-read-your-mind way.

'I don't know what you're talking about, Lilly. I gotta go. Bye.' Mia said hastily and stood up quickly, dodging Lilly's fast hands and heading for the door. Turning around and giving her one last cheery wave, accompanied with a false smile she hoped would put Lilly off following her, she disappeared through the door and down to Lars waiting in the limo.

The next day at school was awkward for everyone. With Michael doing everything in his power to catch Mia alone so he could tell her the truth, and Mia doing everything possible to avoid that, including actually hanging around with Boris after class so he could not speak to her alone.

But there had to be a time when he finally did manage to catch up with her, and that time came a few hours later, when Mia had needed the toilet so badly, she had to ask for a hall pass. Coincidentally, Michael happened to be out of class too.

Of course, there was no real coincidence about it: Michael had taken to leaving all of his classes 5 minutes early so he could wait outside Mia's classroom and try and talk to her when she came out. But on this occasion, he wasn't paying attention until it was too late and Mia was already inside the girl's toilets.

Now Michael faced a dilemma. Did he love Mia enough to face the dark dank chasm and the ridicule he could face for the rest of his life for her? Did he dare enter the girl's toilets?

Hell yeah.

He moved silently towards the door, just in case Mia's hearing was better than she let on, and then stopped an inch away from the door. Taking a deep breath, he placed one hand on the door and pushed. 'One small step for mankind, one giant leap for me.' He muttered to himself, and in one go, stepped straight into the room.

'Mia?' He called out, cautiously just in case there were any other girls in there who no doubt wouldn't stop for one second to hear him out before running to a teacher, telling them that he was perving in the girl's toilets.

A gasp and a bang was his reply and he walked to the cubicle the noise came from. 'Mia, are you in there?' When no answer came, he tried again. 'Mia, please. I just want to talk to you.' Still no answer. So, she didn't want to face him. At least she couldn't escape him now.

'Mia, I just wanted to say that I wasn't making fun of you the other day. I … well. I meant what I said to you. … Oh please, Mia, this would be a lot easier if you would come out so I can say it to your face. Please?'

As the seconds ticked by, Michael was beginning to think that it was hopeless. Maybe he was wrong about the look he saw in her eyes when he told her he loved her. Maybe he was wrong about everything. Maybe she just felt sorry for him because he was Lilly's geeky older brother who had no friends. Maybe-

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a toilet door unlocking. He spun on his heel and saw the most beautiful sight in the world; Mia Thermopolis. She stepped out of the toilet, wringing her hands and staring at her feet. 'You wanted to say something to me?' She said, quietly.

'Mia … Mia Thermopolis. I wasn't kidding around when I said what I said the other day. The truth is, Mia … I love you. I've loved you from the moment I saw you. I can't get you out of my head and I don't want to, either. I just … well, I never thought there was a chance that you would feel the same way, and now I've given up, I just thought that maybe you should know that there is at least one person who thinks you're perfect as you are, even if you do trip up when you walk down the street, have hair like a triangle and are taller than most girls 10 years older than you.'

Having said his piece, Michael turned to go, but was stopped on the spot by the three little words, which escaped that beautiful mouth of hers: 'But I do.'

'You do … what?' He asked her, nervously.

'Michael Moscovitz,' she said, looking up from her shoes at last and into his eyes. They were sparkling with happiness, and something else – but could it be? 'I love you.' And with that, she walked straight to him and as if it was the most natural thing in the world, reached up and kissed him with all the love she'd felt for him all those years.

When they walked into G&T holding hands later on that day, Lilly looked up from the book she was reading and smirked at them. Getting up casually and sauntering over to them, she said 'So … realised how stupid you both are finally?'

Lilly … you knew?' Mia asked her, the surprise obvious in her voice and facial expression.

'Might have guessed.' Michael said, grinning at his little sister. Maybe she wasn't that bad after all. Who knows, he might just like the little twerp.

'Duh. What do you think my IQ is? I've known for years. Now, to business.' She cackled evilly at the confused expression on both their faces.

'What business?' they both asked her simultaneously.

'The business of your dares.' Seeing that they were becoming even more confused, she decided to elaborate. 'I dared the both of you to do specific things. Michael, your dare was to tell Mia you love her, which you appear to have done. Mia, your dare was to avoid Michael: at all costs.'

Seeing the look of outrage that Michael was now giving her, she stopped her explanation long enough to say 'Well, you deserved it, Michael, for not telling her sooner. Now, if you'll let me finish.'

Seeing the nod from both of them, she continued. 'Now, I believe the length of time was one week, am I right?' Again, seeing them both nod, she carried on. 'Now, Michael, I believe, and of course I am right, that I dared you exactly one week and 13 hours ago. As I am sure you have worked out, this means that you have lost the dare.'

As the full impact of what she said hit Michael, he groaned and started protesting, but was silenced at once by Mia's laughter. Lilly was right, the prize he got at the end was far worth having to go one day dressed as a chicken. But Lilly wasn't finished.

'Now for Mia. Mia, I dared you exactly 6 days and 4 hours ago. This means that you have also lost the dare and must go one day dressed as an egg.' Lilly smirked and did a little jig, displaying her obvious glee at the chance of both of them being totally and utterly humiliated.

Now it was Mia's turn to look horrified. 'But Lilly, I have a public image to keep! The press-'

-Ah ah. Should have thought of that before you accepted my dare.' Lilly smiled wildly and turned her back on them, then skipped over to her table and began to read again, with a smug smile planted on her face.

'Don't worry, Mia. At least you're not the only one making a public spectacle of yourself.' Michael whispered into her ear with a smile. Mia nodded. 'You're right. I worry too much.' And with that, she turned and kissed him again. Boy, it sure felt good to do that, she mused.

The next day at school was a day no student would ever forget, nor half of America either. As the limo approached the school as usual, many heads turned out of habit, but they weren't greeted with the usual sight of a triangle haired princess and a signpost-toting Lilly. Instead, what looked like a chicken and a giant egg emerged.

But the most unusual sight came when the chicken turned to the egg, pulled it close to him and kissed it, whispering 'I love you, my little fried egg.' And then two seconds later when the egg pushed the chicken to the floor, laughing and saying that of course, the egg came first.

Lilly watched all this from a safe distance, and shook her head. 'What am I going to do with them.' She thought, as the chicken and the egg started play fighting on the street outside the school. 'What am I going to do with them.'

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